Many devices are manufactured in bulk, and it is then necessary to provide unique security material in the device, in the form of security certificates, secure communications software, private keys and the like, after manufacture.
One approach is that the vendor of the product provides to the manufacturer or other third party the security information. The manufacturer or third party is then responsible for loading the material to the device. However, in this case, there is a risk that the vendor or other third party may treat the security material improperly and result in its leak or modification hence resulting in a loss of security. In addition, this approach adds significant cost and complexity to any manufacturing process.
Therefore it would be preferred for security information to be loaded onto the device after shipping the device to the customer so that the required security information can be tailored to the customer's needs, activities, and local laws without requiring the intervention of a third party. This process can however present a significant security risk, since there is no existing security material in the device to protect the transport, the downloading of security information can be compromised and this can give an unauthorised third party very damaging access.
This is a particular problem when the downloading of security information takes place over a public network, such as when a device downloads security information over public wired or wireless communications services such as mobile telephone (cellular) services which then connect to a security server through the public internet.